Nick Evans

Nick Evans is a masters student in communications at Florida State University. Before moving to Tallahassee, Nick lived in and around the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years. He listens to far too many podcasts and is a die-hard 49ers football fan. When Nick’s not at work he likes to cook, play music and read.

Opioid abuse may grab the headlines, but drug related deaths overall are on the rise. And when it comes to helping people kick an addiction, one lawmaker believes Florida is rejecting some of the best people for the job.

Two Palm Beach prosecutors are calling on Congress to outlaw the kickbacks some patient brokers receive for connecting people with drug treatment. They believe those incentives encourage relapse rather than recovery.

More than fifty people gathered at the Leon County Public Library Monday evening to talk about combating the opioid crisis. The epidemic hasn’t hit Leon as hard as some other counties, but local leaders want to be ready.

As opioid abuse rises across the state some lawmakers are pushing to clear the way for more needle exchange programs. Many physicians whole-heartedly support the strategy as a way to reduce the harm of drug abuse.

Florida’s medical examiners are warning the death toll from opioids is likely to spike as official data is released. The most recent reporting doesn’t reflect the impact of some of the deadliest synthetic drugs.

The governor and state lawmakers are proposing new prescription limits to fight opioid abuse. But they also want to require physicians use a long-standing drug monitoring database—raising the question, why wasn’t it mandatory to begin with?

Substance abuse experts and law enforcement officers are calling on lawmakers to bolster access to treatment for people battling opioid addiction. The biggest focus is on medication assisted treatments.

Florida’s law enforcement, emergency and mental health workers are struggling to cope with a rising tide of opioid overdoses. Lawmakers are looking for solutions ahead of the coming year’s legislative session.

The medical marijuana company Surterra Therapeutics is urging state health regulators to take steps to allow edible cannabis treatments. But the roll out for those rules could still be far off on the horizon.